“So the first impediment and biggest obstacle to our novel, the blank page, becomes a big blue pond at dawn. All we have to do is jump in and flail around, laughing and discovering. Is that great art? No. Art is not equivalent to a momentary whim or caprice. And yet, contradictorily, you cannot have art without whimsy. You cannot dance without stumbling now and then. You cannot build the story without mastering the tools the way children learn to play and speak—by discovering the truth while telling it. The blank page is the writer’s friend. It is an invitation to discover the words that will guide you to the story. You may already have a good idea of what your story should be: the blank page will help you sculpt that idea into something real. You might have no idea of what will come from your writing. All you know is that there was a field somewhere that once bore wild strawberries and now it’s a parking lot. You feel that story and through the blank page you will deliver it.” (Walter Mosley, Elements of Fiction)
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